Chapter 10 Marching Orders Summary

After dinner, the Legate mentions that Eburacum is still haunted by the disappearance of the "unlucky Ninth." Marcus mentions that his father was First Cohort, second in command of the legion. Placidus sneers that the men probably just killed their officers and deserted. The Legate has heard a rumor that one of the northern Celtic tribes keeps the Hispana's Eagle on display. He fears that in another uprising, the Eagle would be a powerful totem against the Romans. The Legate opines that the Hispana must have been ambushed for the Eagle to lose its wings and fall into enemy hands. If the soldiers had merely deserted, he reasons, they would have destroyed it.

The Legate quotes an old motto "Eagle lost - honour lost; honour lost - all lost." Marcus hopes that if the Eagle could be found and...